The Nigeria
Customs Service (NCS) on Wednesday sought the assistance of the Nigerian Navy
in its fight against mid-stream discharge of cargoes.

Mr Eporwei
Edike, the Assistant Comptroller-General(ACG) of CustomsZone ’A’, made the request while hosting Rear
Admiral Ferguson Bobai, the Flag Officer Commanding(FOC) Western Naval
Command, who paid a courtesy visit to the ACG in Lagos.

As both
government bodies agreed on collaborating for better service to Nigeria, Edike
said the navy was in better position of granting the assistance to ensure
adequate monitoring and stoppage of the mid-stream discharge of cargo.

He said that
since the navy operates primarily on water it would be easier for them to go
further into the sea where this act is mostly being perpetrated, and denying
government revenue, even as there could be likely dangers of cargoes inimical
to national security.

Bobai said
it was on the ground of the mandate given to the navy to support the operations
of the customs at sea that informed the need for the support, in order that
they deepen the already existing collaborative relationship between them.

Edike,
therefore, urged the FOC to make necessary arrests whenever his men on patrol
observe any of such acts, because according to him ‘the customs alone cannot
cover all the creeks effectively.

“There is
also a limit to which our boats can go in the cases of monitoring mid-stream
discharge, but the navy’s boats can go further into the sea. Please when you
see them during your patrols, arrest them.

“Those ships
will not report to Nigeria. They just stay out there and discharge into smaller
vessels and leave through the creeks. They are breaking our laws and therefore should
be arrested,” Edike said.

Talking
about the contribution of the zone to the overall revenue collected by the
customs service, the ACG told his visitor that the zone usually contributed
three quarters of the total customs revenue.

Edike said
that since the restriction placed on 41 items over foreign exchange transaction
also contributed in the dwindling revenue of the service, it now focused more
on a number of excisable goods like cigarettes and alcohol.

He said the
efforts of the customs’ anti-smuggling operations in the bush and creeks had
recorded successes with arrests of suspects and seizures of smuggled goods.

Giving a
breakdown, the ACG said that seizures made in the zone from January to April,
comprised over 28,000 cartons of frozen poultry products, 20,778 bags of rice, and
3,686 cans of cooking oil.

Other seized
items are 50 bales of used clothes and 68 bales of cannabis, and the ACG
disclosed that the items’ collective duty payable valuable stood at N1.3
billion.

Rear Admiral
Bobai used the occasion to inform the ACG of the forth-coming 60th
anniversary celebration of the Nigerian Navy from May 18 to June 1.

He said the
navy would require the support of the customs in the course of its celebration,
and hoped that they would get the support, while pledging the navy’s unrelenting
support to the customs in the course of duty.

The FOC,
Western Naval Command disclosed that the Nigerian Navy expects navies of over
10 countries, and that highlights of the celebration will include a sea
exercise with the friendly nations coming with their ships.

He said the
navy had also built a tug boat at its shipyard in Port Harcourt, which will be
commissioned on June 1, while they will set to also lunch about 50 other boats
to be used for patrols in creeks in the areas the navy operate.

Bobai
disclosed that the navy’s planned commissioning of an offshore patrol vessel
from China, and another locally-built one at the naval dockyard in Victoria
Island would be shifted to a later date as time constraint would not allow the
vessels to be ready for the date.